Halloween II (1981) Review

It’s a common thought among those who have seen the first two Halloween movies that while the first was a classic, Halloween II (1981) was a departure from the systematic, suspenseful action of the first. While I agree that it’s a vastly different type of movie from its predecessor, I also feel it’s an excellent movie in its own right. Something is terrifying about a hospital setting, which is where this one takes place for the most part, and we get a lot more explanation as to why Michael Myers does what he does (even though we probably didn’t need it). This movie would set the template for future slasher films with much more gore and brutality, for better or worse.

Story

I loved that they made this sequel a continuation of the same night from October 31st, 1978. I don’t feel like enough movies do this, and it makes watching these first two films back-to-back so enjoyable. We get a recap of the last moments of the original movie with Loomis (Donald Pleasence) shooting Michael Myers and finding nothing but a silhouette of Michael’s body on the grass out front of the house. Seeing this perfect outline of a body on the grass is funny. It felt more like a cartoon than reality. Dr. Loomis is obsessed with finding Michael at this point as he can’t believe he shot him six times (actually seven), and the guy is still alive. This leads to a police officer driving right into a guy dressed like Michael Myers, resulting in a fiery crash that burns the man alive. Of course, Loomis doesn’t believe this was Michael. Neither did I. He had blonde hair! This leads Loomis and the other officers on a hunt for Michael as Sheriff Brackett (Charles Cyphers) ends up going home after discovering that his daughter Annie has been murdered.

Razor Blade Easter Egg

I must mention this, as it wasn’t something I noticed until I watched the movie in higher quality. A mother brings her child into the hospital because he presumably ate some Halloween candy with a razor blade inside. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like this referenced in a movie, and I thought it was a clever random addition. It’s the first bloody scene in the movie and easily foreshadows the gore that’s to come.

Characters

Supporting Characters

As I previously mentioned, most of the movie takes place at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital, where Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) is recovering from her wounds sustained in the first film. There are some supporting characters introduced as paramedics Jimmy (Lance Guest), who sticks around Laurie, and Budd (Leo Rossi), who tries to get some alone time with nurse Karen (Pamela Susan Shoop). This is where this film differs from the first. We don’t get any time to know these characters before Michael disposes of them. They’re all just fodder. We do learn that Laurie is Michael’s sister, who was born two years before he was committed and given up for adoption afterward. It doesn’t make sense how Michael would know about Laurie, and that puzzle piece is never explained.

Michael Myers

The deaths in Halloween II (1981) extend far beyond what was seen in the first movie. Michael is a cold, calculated killer in this one. He takes out a security guard with a hammer to the skull, burns a nurse’s face with scalding hot water until she drowns, and puts a needle full of air into another nurse’s brain, to name a few. He’s ruthless. He even drains another nurse of all her blood with an IV in a particularly crazy scene. These deaths, while gruesome, aren’t particularly scary. Once you see one, you expect him to up the ante with every consecutive kill, and he does just that. I felt like the suspenseful feel of the first Halloween movie was much scarier. We see Michael Myers way too much in this one. He’s no longer this voyeuristic evil entity that has an inexplicable mystique around him. Now, he’s simply a serial killer out for blood.

Laurie Strode

On the other hand, Laurie is a much weaker character in this film, and for good reason. She’s been through a hell of a night. She still has injuries from earlier in the evening, she’s on some sedatives, and she can’t walk at full pace. The chase through the hospital didn’t quite live up to the first movie’s chase scene, but it got your heart rate up. Michael slowly stalks Laurie as she hobbles down hallways and through windows and elevators, barely escaping his grasp. She eventually makes her way outside, but Michael has already slashed all the tires and seemingly disabled all of the vehicles. This is where Jamie Lee Curtis shines as she claws out of a car (you can hear her fingernails scratch the pavement) and finally has to return to the hospital as Loomis and crew arrive. With as much spotlight as there was on Laurie in this movie, I didn’t feel like she was as important a character as in the first film. She barely speaks in the movie and evades Michael for almost her entire time on screen.

The End?

Halloween II (1981) was to be the definitive end of Michael Myers as Loomis blows Michael up, igniting some gas in a hospital room as Michael walks down the hallway in a firestorm, and he finally falls over and meets his demise (or so it seems anyway). It would have been a fitting end to this series. This wasn’t the end, as we’re still talking about this series 44 years later. It felt like this whole movie was happening in real time, and I loved that attention to detail. There was a particular urgency to everything happening, regardless of which character we were focusing on.

Final Thoughts

Halloween II (1981) is a polarizing movie. Some people dislike it, while others enjoy it. I appreciate it for what it is, but I wish they had followed the style of John Carpenter in the first movie. I didn’t feel Michael needed to be as much of a focal point as he was. It seemed like he was constantly on the screen. That notwithstanding, it was a fitting second piece to a double feature that I still enjoy returning to year after year.